Ravenna Twp. man gets year in prison for theft

A Ravenna Township man with a long criminal record in Portage County will serve one year in prison after pleading guilty to stealing a vehicle transmission in Randolph in May.

Darian L. Ball, 43, of 3494 S.R. 59, recently pleaded guilty to theft, a fifth-degree felony, in Portage County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday. Normally, under an Ohio law passed in 2011 designed to relieve prison overcrowding, he would have received probation and not the maximum one year prison sentence allowed by law.

However, Judge John Enlow gave him 12 months in prison on the theft charge and six months in prison on a separate probation violation, to run concurrent to one another. He said he imposed prison on the low-level felony because Ball had a prior felony conviction in the past two years.

In addition, Ball's attorney, Donald Mitchell, and the Portage County Prosecutor's Office made a joint sentencing recommendation to Enlow of one year in prison. Ball apologized in court for his crimes.

The case resulted from a break-in and theft of a vehicle transmission worth more than $1,000 that took place in the 2200 block of New Milford Road in Randolph on May 30, according to court records.

Ball's arrest record in Portage County includes charges of assault, menacing, breaking and entering and theft, according to court records. Enlow sentenced Ball to five years in prison in July 2003 after he pleaded guilty to felonious assault, a second-degree felony.